AIG Nearly Bites The Hand That Fed It

Remember when the mega-insurer was on the brink of collapse and the government bailed it out to the tune of billions?

Remember how the loan saved the company, along with thousands of jobs?

Remember the television commercials AIG has been airing recently in which the company thanks the American people for saving their ass-ets?

Well, the guys currently running AIG apparently didn't.

Until they succumbed to public outrage this past week, the company's board was thinking of joining a lawsuit against the government (aka the hand that fed them), alleging the terms of the bailout were unfair to the company's shareholders.

So the message here was: Thank you for coming to our rescue, and to show our appreciation, we are going to sue you.

Kind of reminds you of the old country song: "I gave her the ring, and she gave me the finger."

Platinum Coin

Ah, you have to love this one. An idea being floated to deal with the looming debt-ceiling standoff between the White House and Congress is to have the government mint a platinum coin, which would be valued at $1 trillion dollars. (I mean, you can't make this stuff up.) The basis for this concept is rooted in a law that gives the treasury the right to issue coins in any denomination. Thus, some people, including some very smart people, are saying that all the president has to do to avoid the approaching fiscal calamity being threatened by Republican's is have a $1 trillion platinum coin minted, deposit it at the Fed, then use the proceeds to fund the government. Talk about a V-8 moment.

The Nutty Professor

During the week that was, we also learned that a communications professor at Florida Atlantic University named James Tracy has been opining on his blog that last month's Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre may not have actually happened. In several posts on his blog, Tracy suggests Sandy Hook may have been an event staged with hired actors and orchestrated by the Obama administration to promote gun control. Advice to FAU students: Transfer.

Congressional Popularity Update

There was a new poll this past week gauging the popularity of Congress. The news was not good. After inching up to an approval rating of 12 percent late last year, the Beltway boys and girls are now back down to 9 percent.

When compared to Congress, among the things that polled higher were root canals, lice, used-car salesmen, the replacement refs, Genghis Khan, Donald Trump and cockroaches.

There were some bright spots, however, with Congress being viewed more favorably than Lindsay Lohan, the Kardashians, Fidel Castro, North Korea, John Edwards, gonorrhea, telemarketers and meth labs.

I should also mention that in a head-to-head comparison, poll respondents favored colonoscopies over Congress by 58 percent to 31 percent.

Speaking of Congress …

As if the House Intelligence Committee were not enough of an oxymoron, our favorite crazy lady, Michele Bachmann, was reappointed as a member this past week by the Republican leadership. Although Bachmann is renowned for her wacko conspiracy theories, she also burnished her Islamophobic credentials during her re-election campaign by suggesting that Muslims in the Obama administration, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin, were Islamic extremists with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Nice to have her back.

The Weak in Tweet

I have better penmanship left handed and drunk than Jack Lew.

When the world ends, someone be sure to pour Gatorade on Me. (Retweet, TheTweetOfGod)

After 37 days of non stop blah blah blah ND-Alabama finally begins.

Getting on the platinum coin bandwagon.

DebraLee Hovey: Latest example of why politicians should not use social media.

Indications administration already compromising with itself over guns in hope of getting Republican support, which will not be there.

Anybody want to bet me that the next Labor Secretary will not be a woman?